White Day
by Ketsuton
Summary: Naruto x Sakura. Valentine's Day didn't quite go as Naruto had planned, but one month later a surprise knocks him out of his daydreams in a far from rude fashion. Read and review, please.


**Title:** White Day  
**Pairing:** Naruto x Sakura  
**Rated:** Teen; one mild swear word used on two occasions.**  
Notes:** This was written as a gift for my friend, Heimu, for Valentine's Day of 2008. I wasn't even going to post it but hey, I'm an attention whore. I've thrown Heimu-chan and me in there with a few mentions during the middle, but nothing too outstanding, and although it seems a bit weird and makes the flow of the fic a bit strange, I'm not editing it out.  
There's a slight hint of SasuChia (OC) in there as well, so if that might bother you, either ignore it or don't read it. If you haven't read the first few chapters of my longest fic, just ignore the mention of Sakon. That's just a gag I have. Also, this is my first NaruSaku fic, and since I dislike this pairing and am not Sakura's biggest fan, I do apologise if it sucks butt. Reviews are loved! Thanks.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything but this fic.  
**For the love of...: This is NOT time-skip. It is 13-year olds galore! Also, **Please let me know if I've made spelling errors/done something really stupid. I can't stand when people overlook these things, as I'm shamefully a perfectionist. D:!!

**PS. **To the readers of my main fic: You thought I was dead, right? O: Shame on you. This is also a oneshot, by the way. If you have no idea what White Day is all about, please check the Wikipedia.

* * *

"I know it's supposed to be the girl to give a gift on Valentine's Day," Naruto begins, not really looking at all as courageous as he'd like to be. The slightly tanned skin of his whiskered cheeks burns with such an embarrassed shade of red, as he holds a small, square package, out in front of him, and gulps back as much of his fear as he possibly can. "But, I want to make sure you know just how special you are to me, Sakura-Chan!"

Other than the sound of his clock tick-tocking in the background, silence sharply floods the ears of the awkwardly grinning blonde this March the fourteenth, as he sighs and lowers the package back down, away from the mirror he'd been practicing in front of. He remembers standing in the exact same spot in his bedroom, and reciting those same words last month on February the fourteenth: Valentine's Day, holding the actual present he was going to give to none other than Haruno Sakura. He also remembers what had happened afterwards, and sighs upon running that whole day through his mind once again, quite possibly for the third time today . . .

**oxoxo**

"Crap . . ." Naruto muttered under his breath. "If I go up to Sakura-Chan so flustered like this, she'll think even less of me than she already does!"

Sighing once more, so as to calm himself down, the frustrated pre-teen decided he'd regret it for the rest of the year and longer if he didn't at least try to properly share his affections with Sakura this year. With a decisive nod of his head, a determined frown painted onto his face, and his lower-lip slid forward in that angry manner of his, Naruto raised a fist to the air and announced his decision to himself and his lucky purse, Gama-Chan, sat open-mouthed on the breakfast table nearby.

"Yoshyaa! I swear I'll win Sakura-Chan's heart this year!" And with that, the twelve-year old boy rushed out of his house, quite stupidly forgetting that he was still sporting white and blue striped pyjamas and unruly bed-hair, not to mention the nasty smell of teeth that hadn't been brushed since the evening before.

**oxoxo**

"Sasuke-Kun will like my gift better, Forehead-Chan." Ino cooed smugly from the swing she was sat upon in the playground that day. Sakura, sat not on the swing next to Ino, but on the swing two spaces away from her, just gave a quick "Hah!" in response, causing Ino to shoot her such a dirty look.

"What's so funny?" Ino snapped, bitterness lacing her demanding tone.

"Simply that you think he'll like anything you give him. You're just a vain pig." Sakura calmly stated with a spiteful grin to her lips, waving her hand dismissively. Ino scoffed disgustedly at her former best friend's remark, prior to retorting just as rudely.

"And you're just a weed with a huge forehead the size of the entire Fire Country."

A near-silent pause ensued. Sakura's eye twitched. Ino's grin reappeared.

"You shut up about that. Or have you forgotten about how you used to say my forehead was cute?" Sakura sneered. Both girls then turned their heads to the one sat between them, that being the only thing posing as an obstacle preventing the two from having such a good cat-fight with each other on the playground. Neither girl spoke for a few seconds, they just sat glaring bitterly at this human acting as a wall between them, but it was highly obvious that neither one could keep quiet about what this person had to do with the matter of Valentine's Day and Sasuke for long.

"At least we have a better chance of winning his affections than you, weirdo." Ino hissed at none other than my blank-looking self rocking gently on the swing in between the frustrated pair. I had just finished sipping the last few drops out of my carton of raspberry juice, before staring at Ino the way a six year old boy might should you have mentioned the words "kiss" or "girl" to him. In other words, I showed her such a disgusted look that you'd swear I thought she had some sort of contagious disease, when really I was wondering why the two still believed affections to be prizes you could win through a game of Ninja-hide-and-seek.

"Don't be stupid," I muttered, my cheeks noticeably warm with a faint blush I failed more embarrassedly rather than miserably to hide. "I don't care about romance and dating."

"Yeah, right." Ino snickered under her breath.

"Romance is a load of crap," Not really meaning to have quoted my old 'friend', Sakon, I continued. "You can have Sasuke-Idiot; he has a stick up his arse and pisses me off, anyway." I grumbled, still bearing a stupid blush and wishing that Heimu-Chan was here instead of in Otogakure no Sato with a female friend of hers named Karin. Heimu seems to get on with Sakura and Ino, and now that I think of it every other female we should stumble upon, much better than I do, not solely, but partly because she pays Sasuke absolutely no attention whatsoever unless it's to tell him to stop being such an "emotard", more noticeably when I'm within earshot. Heimu would at least distract the two either side of me from questioning me on what my relationship with Sasuke is like.

"Don't talk about Sasuke-Kun that way!" Sakura shrieked, balling her fist and shoving it just under my nose as I stared awkwardly into the small rolls of sunlight reflecting off of lake a few metres away from us. "He's not an idiot, and you do a good job of pissing _me_ off!"

"Hah. Don't waste your energy being so hostile, Forehead-Chan," Ino interjected with a sly grin upon her face. "She's just saying she doesn't care about it because she knows he doesn't like her and won't get a shot with him."

Ino snickered and pulled her eyelid down with her index finger. She stuck out her tongue out childishly and made a "Beeh" sound as to embarrass me. Sakura pulled a thoughtful face, before deciding her rival was right. She put her hands back onto her lap and smirked as if she had something to be proud of.

"For once, Ino-pig is right."

After a few seconds of having said absolutely nothing, and returning their gaze to the lake not far from where we were sat, the two girls soon both had a few bulging veins signalling annoyance pulsating on their foreheads despite how calm they were trying to appear, while I just retained an awkward look and decided that it was official:

Valentine's Day was and still is _stupid_.

**oxoxo**

After having hurried from his house to find Sakura before "that jerk" Sasuke could – not that the younger of the two remaining Uchiha brothers had much else other than tomatoes and rice on his mind that day – Naruto had no time to worry about how he looked running around the village in his stripy pyjamas, because it was already the afternoon and he wanted to give Sakura his gift before it got dark. He'd been hoping to "woo" his love-interest just as the sun began to set, hoping it would seem more romantic under an orange sky. Luckily, he found Sakura still sat on the swings, although unfortunately with Ino and me still to one side of her.

"Crap." Naruto thought to himself. He'd hoped to have found Sakura by herself. He was already embarrassed about the situation, but to have an audience of two girls listening in as he presented his gift that day. . .

The unsure, whiskered boy gulped back his nervousness as best he could, but was still worried about how Sakura might react to his being so open about how he felt, especially in front of her rival over another boy. However, not letting his mind linger on such thoughts to the point of giving into them and running away, Naruto took a few steps forward to present her his special Valentine's gift.

"S-Sakura-Chan," Naruto began, stuttering both out of nervousness and because of the cold dirt and grass beneath and between his bare toes. Sakura peered over her shoulder to see Naruto stood there, hardly dressed appropriately, at which point the side of her head became home to a rather noticeable sweat drop. She, in short, did not look the least bit impressed.

"Ah, look, Forehead-Chan," Ino cooed as she turned around on her swing to enjoy the scene. "Your _real _boyfriend is here!"

"You shut up! He's not my boyfriend and he never will be!" Sakura hissed, her words unintentionally cutting Naruto's confidence right in half. It hurt him to hear Sakura say those words, but these words had been spoken before she'd seen his gift!

"I came here to give you this," Naruto spoke up, once again fighting off his fears and holding the item he'd brought with him up for the two girls to see. "I know it's usually the girl who gives the gift on Valentine's Day . . ." Trying to retain eye-contact with Sakura wasn't helping. Her pretty, pale green eyes stared almost loathingly into his painful blue ones. "But,"

The words he'd recited over and over that morning just wouldn't reappear in his mind. Even the ones that did appear flew through his mind too quickly. Most were jumbled and made absolutely no sense. His chest was frightful with hard thumping sounds that were all he could concentrate on. "I w-wanted to make sure you know just h—"

"Go away, Naruto!"

A painful, awkward silence pounded on the rejected blonde's eardrums as his pink-haired princess harshly grounded his efforts mid-sentence. His throat tightened. His chest fell silent, all apart from a few hard, slow beats.

"What? What's wrong, Sakura-Chan?" He asked, trying to force a grin to his cheeks.

"I can't have you giving me gifts, especially today of all days," Sakura states, folding her arms across her chest and shutting her eyes, her eyebrows frowning in disapproval. "What if Sasuke-Kun was to see? He'd think I like you, and he'd turn to someone who's no good for him, like Chiaki, or even worse, Ino-Pig!"

Sakura might have been laughing at what she found to be the amusing end to a statement she considered fact, but on the other hand, Naruto was far from amused. Tear-ducts sore from the want to burst, Naruto forced a fake smile onto his lips. His eyebrows furrowed sadly, as he forced himself to continue looking Sakura in the eyes.

"Oh," was all he could manage to utter. "I see."

Not knowing what else to do, the pyjama-clad blonde bent down, his knees creaking with the vile want to just snap underneath him as he set his wrapped gift down on the grass, in plain view to the two girls facing him.

"Well, it was worth a try, right?" He laughed, his voice noticeably, even to me, cracked and sore sounding. He hid it so well, considering how most would simply break down in tears or throw a vile remark at the pink-haired girl to stop themselves from crying, but not Naruto. He just grinned and stepped away from the playground, soon finding himself running through the streets within the village towards his home. His face all too familiar with the tight feeling of a fraudulent smile remained fighting to look content or normal, even with his chest feeling as sore as it did.

Did Sakura even know how much she hurt him at times . . . ? Whether she did or did not, it still didn't sway the feelings Naruto had for her. Not then, and not this March the fourteenth, also known, especially to the girls of this village any many other, as White Day.

**oxoxo**

As the still brave preteen wonders whether Sakura will ever see past "that jerk" and return the feelings he has for her, he tells himself giving up on her won't do a thing to make him feel better. He runs that statement through his mind so many times that he finds it difficult to believe anymore. But still, looking on the bright side, there are still going to be many opportunities for him to earn her affections, he just has trouble imagining what they are and when they might come around . . .

A loud banging jolts Naruto out of his daydreaming about Sakura, rāmen and becoming Hokage in front of the mirror, so much so that he drops the box he'd been using as a practice gift for next year, onto the wooden floor, letting the kunai, shuriken and unfortunately, smoke bombs that had been inside of it scatter all over the floor. Near enough choking on the thick, purple smoke of the three exploded smoke bombs, Naruto makes his way through the fog-like gas, the smell of which near enough numbing his senses, to the front door. Appropriately clothed this time, he pulls the wooden door open only to see—

"S-Sakura-Chan!" Naruto wheezes, waving at the thinning smoke and spluttering a few times in front of the far from impressed-looking female.

"Naruto, you idiot, what did you do this time?" She asks, not really surprised to see Naruto in yet another state. It isn't as if he isn't completely accident-prone, largely due to the amount of showing off he's known for.

"Well, I was," pausing to think of a suitable excuse, one that wouldn't make him seem too foolish, Naruto manages to cough a response as the smoke finally clears from the hallway. "I was messing with some smoke-bombs, and one just sort of . . . rolled away off the table and burst!"

Sakura sighs out of pure annoyance at the rather embarrassed blonde, realising he had lied about the situation upon noticing quite easily that this amount of smoke would require a number of smoke bombs to explode at once, not just one.

Only then does Naruto notice her carrying something small wrapped in a pale pink handkerchief, but before he can even think to open his mouth and ask her what it is, Sakura grumbles a response.

"You should be more careful. Honestly."

"I suppose you're right . . ." Naruto laughs, his cheeks rather pink as he scratches the back of his unruly crop of blonde hair.

Neither of the two says anything for a few seconds, until Naruto's curiosity gets the better of him.

"What's that you're holding, Sakura-Chan?"

Sakura pauses for another few seconds, and then lowers her head somewhat, her eyebrows furrowed in an unreadable manner. More noticeably to Naruto, her cheeks are stained with a pale pink similar to that of her silky hair, confusing him quite a bit. Perplexed as to why Sakura seems to look somewhat different now to the way she was a moment ago, Naruto frowns.

"Has someone upset you or something? Want me to beat them up?!" Naruto shouts, bearing an angered look in the shape of a protruding lower-lip and squinted eyes.

"No, that's not it." She mumbles, sharpening her frown directed at the doormat outside of Naruto's front-door. Puzzled as to why the usually bubbly girl is now looking as though Ino has just stolen Sasuke away to a faraway country, Naruto slides his lower lip forward further, and squints his eyes tighter, thinking hardly about what could be wrong . . . when a flowery aroma tickles his nose and unclenches his facial features with its sweetness.

"That smells familiar." He remarks almost silently.

The almost bitter gasses in the smoke bombs that had exploded earlier had prevented him from noticing the perfumed scent wafting around until now, but now he can smell a soft fragrance coming from Sakura. He's sure he had smelled it on at least one occasion before now, but can't think of what it might be.

"What is it?" He asks curiously, staring across at Sakura as if she is supposed to know.

"You should know already," She snaps upon looking up at him, now directing her frown straight at Naruto. Dulling her tone down somewhat, almost to a miserable-sounding mumble, she continues. "You left that package on the playground last month."

Silence floods the doorway, as Naruto's eyes dull to a hurt shade of blue. He remembers the events of that day too well for it to put anything but a sad frown upon his face.

Although he manages to retain eye-contact with Sakura, this is only because he's concentrating on how awkwardly aware he is of how slow and harshly his heart is hitting the inside of his chest. It almost leaves him breathless as he remembers what it was he'd spent weeks picking out, wrapping up as neatly as possible in a pale-pink choice of wrapping paper and a China-red ribbon, and then finally finding the nerve to actually take it to Sakura in person.

"If someone had seen it there on the ground and taken it, you'd have wasted your money on a stranger, you know." Sakura informs, showing him a stern look.

Although he thinks it was a little too "shoujo-manga" of him for his liking, what, with it being a little cliché and all, the smile that begins to appear upon his love-interest's face tells Naruto he had chosen wisely when deciding on a small bottle of perfume, with the simple but fitting name of "Sakura" attached to it just days before Valentine's Day.

"I'd have thought romance was a little too much to expect from someone as crude and loud as you." Sakura laughs, happily wearing the flowery fragrance Naruto had chosen for her, as well as a rather unappreciated smirk. Naruto bares an embarrassed and awkward frown towards this look he's receiving.

"I wanted it to be special!" He shouts embarrassedly, feeling the need to justify his decision.

"Stop shouting!" Sakura snaps back at him, now wearing a somewhat embarrassed look upon her own face. She then looks down to the little box she holds in her hands, different to the one Naruto had given to hear last month, but obviously some form of a gift as it is wrapped and presented too well not to be.

"What's that, Sakura-Chan?" Naruto asks after a pause.

"Well, it's . . . my gift, for you. It is White Day, after all." She simply states, feeling a little unsure of herself as she holds out the white box tied up with a shiny, orange ribbon.

Quite amazed that Haruno Sakura, the one who is always calling him stupid and telling him how hopeless he is, is giving him a gift on the day the boy is supposed to give a white gift three times the value of the gift the girl had given him on Valentine's day, Naruto blinks, but smiles that broad smile of his regardless. The amazed blonde simply tugs at the ribbon to undo it, and upon removing the lid from the box, he frowns down at it.

"There's nothing in it!" He shouts, leaning forward a little more to inspect the white package.

Interrupted, though hardly rudely, Naruto's eyes halt mid-search within the empty box, and widen to bright, round circle shapes as his cheeks burn with visible warmth. He realises just why that box was empty when he'd opened it. His gift wasn't in that box at all, it was never meant to be in there.

Naruto's gift, this March the fourteenth, also known as White Day, a day where the boy usually gives a gift to the girl who gave him a gift on Valentine's Day, was a simple kiss from the soft lips of Haruno Sakura, to his bare, now tingling forehead.

**oxoxo**

"I know it's usually the boy to give the gift on White Day," Sakura whispers, her eyes shut softly as she holds the blonde boy's messy fringe out of the way. "But, I want you to know just how special you are to me, Naruto. Really."


End file.
